Brained07's Week Pre-Season Ballot

Rank	Team	Reason
1	Kansas	They were already good, and added Hunter Dickinson? Very high expectations, but KU looks strong
2	Duke	I hate to run the two popular picks top two, but Duke is really deep this year. It’s close, but I’ll roll them second
3	UConn	Last year’s national champions are less experienced, but a strong recruiting/transfer class should keep them up high in the polls
4	Purdue	Zach Edey is still scary, and Purdue returns all five starters. This team is still good
5	Houston	They return most of last year’s very good team, and found a replacement for Sasser. They maybe should be slightly lower, but I like them at 5
6	Tennessee	Can a team ranked in the top 10 be underrated? Returning most starters and transferred in good scoring too
7	Arizona	My favorite sleeper team of the year. They’ve stumbled in the postseason but they’ve been consistently great in the regular season and only got better this offseason. I expect 2 see them up here often
8	Marquette	Most starters are back, and after a 2 seed last year, they look poised for another deep run
9	Michigan State	Tom Izzo still has a good team capable of another long run. That’s about all you need to know I’d say
10	North Carolina	A really high upside team, least year’s good players mixed with portal and newcomers. They’re poised to be fairly solid this year.
11	Miami (FL)	They lost players, but found other replacements in the portal. I was high on Miami all year last season and they paid off in my bracket last year. They will be good again, mark my words
12	Texas	sigh, Texas may be back unfortunately. Abmas is a key guy to bring back and look like they will be a solid competitor in the Big 12
13	Gonzaga	Timme is gone, and they added some solid pieces. It’s still Gonzaga though, so with Few you know they’ll be solid. Especially in their conference
14	Creighton	Nembhard is gone, and they’ve lost a few pieces, but I don’t think they’ll be particularly bad, and will pull their own weight in a competitive Big East
15	San Diego State	They return a host of solid players from last year’s team, and they always play well
16	Villanova	The odds of Villanova missing the tourney 2 years in a row? Low. The Big East is stacked, but they will be good again
17	Saint Mary's	Forever second best in the WCC, St. Mary’s returns most starters and look to be another mid-poll team that could take a step forward
18	Baylor	Baylor is always good, and even though they don’t have quite the same unit, Scott Drew will have a still-very-solid team cooking before long
19	USC	Unproven, but this team has tons of talent everywhere you look. They could definitely rise up the rankings real quick if they get hot
20	Memphis	This is a flier, but Penny Hardaway’s guys are normally ready to play. I had them in the sweet sixteen last year, and after heartbreak against FAU, I think they can push farther again this year
21	Alabama	Building through the portal a la Colorado is iffy, but Alabama got some key players. Coming off last season’s disappointment, they won’t be bad, but they may have a capped ceiling
22	UCLA	They’ve lost players, but Mick Cronin has done a fantastic job ever since they ran to the Final Four as an 11 seed in ‘21. Don’t say they can’t pull off something awesome after seeing that.
23	Arkansas	You can never count out the Muss Bus, and there’s some potential here, but Arkansas will be up and down this year. Ranking them for potential
24	Florida Atlantic	Why the hell not? All the starters are back, and they’ll face some stiffer competition this year, but let’s have a little fun with it right?
25	Auburn	Auburn will be solid competition in the SEC, but also special shoutout to The Jungle, because they are easily one of the best student section in the nation

Overall Rationale

I ran out of things to say, so it’s repetitive, but my rationale stands. It’s not particularly informative since it’s the start of the season, but we’ll have more to go off of soon. I'm going to actually put reasons this year, so fun Next Up: n/a Dropped out: n/a